I was there as well for my last day of the year. Starting out it was absolutely dead, but around 4 it might have hit 1,500-2,000, which with the one train operations led to small lines actually growing at Raging Bull and Goliath by 4:30, but they closed at 5 so after rope offs they probably chewed through those short lines.

The atmosphere was actually very good, and the Park is probably very glad they opened and gave a good impression, which they should be commended for doing well almost every bad weather day, unlike nearly every other park out there. Unfortunately I dont think they will extend the season this late next year, but they've been stubborn in the past and might heavily advertise November next year as bring a friend free weekends for all passholders, and that might draw more crowds.

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Guy_With_A_Stick wrote:Dude, Balloons is meant for people who find the other rides to be too scary, or who are too short to ride anything else. They wouldn't care if the ride was 5 seconds(which it most definitely is not). They just want to be able to ride something to make their $60 ticket worthwhile.

By the way, if your whole park experience is going to be dictated by a single ride(let alone a Zamperla Balloon Race), then I think you should at least take into consideration the other rides in the park.

LOL!! I actually have ridden the balloons to help dry off a little bit after Roaring Rapids, since it's right there.

Today was an amazing last operating Station waits most of the day so we were able to ride every ride we wanted to at twice including the last train of the year on Goliath row 3. We were also the last ones to enter the queue. Also saw Demon get stuck on the MCBR and Goliath transfer the red train to the transfer track.

Good time overall. Able to do everything we wanted. X-Flight kept breaking though. It eventually delivered the best ride I've had on it in years. Left side. Best ride of the season on Eagle Red too. Intensity was just right and the last part wasn't chaotic like usual. Everything seemed smoother in the cold. Pretzel was top notch again. Demon black was quite good. Whizzer and Raging Trimbrake both seem to make us feel very slightly nauseated this year but it wasn't as bad this time. The Bull broke for a couple minutes. No waiting in the single rider line for Justice League, but the regular line was pretty big. Maybe 1/3 the usual size. Looked like Goliath had a decent line. We skipped that one, Pretzelman, and Viper. Riding with cold wind blowing can be a bit tricky. I tried to cover my mouth with a ski mask as much as I could. Whirleygig was maybe the worst thing to ride in terms of cold winds. Everything was pretty much a walk up.

So what could of caused Demon to stop (get stuck) on the MCBR? Surprising there wasn't a test run after the train made back to the station. This happened at about 3:15 while I was waiting in the X-Flight station.

Ilovthevu' wrote:Ricochet should be open. Close the Balloons. People don't like the 5 second ride on them. Get a LONGER program. The ride program is terrible. It seems like i have to wait until a "famous" youtube person says something, and they will actually change it. Or until they take it out in a year or 2 because no one wants to ride a 5 second ride anymore.

It wouldn't run it's full cycle, not to mention the cars wouldn't swing out.

Tardis1972 wrote:So what could of caused Demon to stop (get stuck) on the MCBR? Surprising there wasn't a test run after the train made back to the station. This happened at about 3:15 while I was waiting in the X-Flight station.

^Okay, I thought they just didn't want to run it. I think the thing that bugs the ride (Ricochet) is rain for sure because when rain goes in the middle it empties on the bottom, and it will go near the part that makes it spins, and in order for it turn, they put some oil on it to help it out so it doesn't get stuck and stop spinning. They have the oil cans near that bottom part of the ride.

I imagine also they don't have to oil it that much during the summer, but now they have to oil it up much more for it to keep going when it's cold out. Cold things stick more to each other.

Last edited by Ilovthevu' on November 21st, 2017, 10:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Morals of life - Take my advice - You don't know what you have till it's gone. & Buying stuff doesn't fulfill your happiness levels for long. You buy stuff. You use stuff. You get bored of stuff. You throw stuff out. It's old. You buy new stuff. You use stuff. Get out of the rut.

Whizzer Whiz Kid wrote:Yes, I always get a new card. (May or may not be so I get double meals to share with the family during the overlap we are in now)

Whiz, when you purchased your card during Flash Sale, did you just answer "No" to the question "Did you have a pass in 2017?" I'm thinking of getting a new physical car each year, if no other reason, it will keep the card it good shape.

No, we always say that we had a pass last year. When we come to the park to activate our passes, they either just hand us a new one at the gate or tell us to go to pass services to get them. No one even asked if we had old passes or if we had them with us. I actually needed a new card for 2018 because my dad lost my 2017 pass during Fright Fest getting food. Luckily I had it still programed onto my phone/app.

Ilovthevu' wrote:Ricochet should be open. Close the Balloons. People don't like the 5 second ride on them. Get a LONGER program. The ride program is terrible. It seems like i have to wait until a "famous" youtube person says something, and they will actually change it. Or until they take it out in a year or 2 because no one wants to ride a 5 second ride anymore.

It wouldn't run it's full cycle, not to mention the cars wouldn't swing out.

Tardis1972 wrote:So what could of caused Demon to stop (get stuck) on the MCBR? Surprising there wasn't a test run after the train made back to the station. This happened at about 3:15 while I was waiting in the X-Flight station.

It actually got stuck or just crawled through?

It got stuck (stopped) on the MCBR. I watched the maintenance man open the gate and walk up to the train. It wasn't stuck that long though. I actually thought the train was going to fall backwards at first. Here's the photo I got of it.

Some pretty shitty luck for this year's extended season- 3 weeks of ass weather, and as soon as they're done for the year we get 50's and 60's. Next week looks great as well. Gurnee Mills is down the block, and with Black Friday, I bet they'd get their best crowds of the extended season this weekend. Hope they take it into account for next year.

Allow me to put my review of both late Fright Fest and Last Call, October and November, in this one place. First of all Fright Fest was incredible, and in my view the absolute best Fright Fest imaginable and the greatest I have ever seen this Park in terms of the combination of rides/coasters, special theming, and especially the shows and entertainment. The Park on the Sundays I went during Fright Fest was damn near perfect if not better than the best visits and experiences I have ever had at Kings Island and even Cedar Point in terms of the quantity of total product and quality of the complete experience. Unlike GAm which is better in October than during summer, CP and KI are much better during the regular season than they are during Haunt weekends in terms of effort level, presentation, and operations.

Seriously, The Ringmaster's Cabaret alone was excellent, and the whole associated overhaul of entertainment with the other shows featuring the same troupe and the LAFF cast, albeit mostly just more singing and dancing shows, brought the total entertainment to nearly the level of an individual Universal or Disney park when combined with the 6 haunts and the addition of the awesome Underworld zone. I looked at the online Fright guides and entertainment offerings of the other SF parks and all the major parks in the midwest, and no other SF or midwest Park had as good of an offering for entertainment and themed presentation as Great America had during October.

I only attended Last Call on the final Saturday, but in those 5 hours alone the Park proved how much they have improved for this season and over this season with effort level and appropriate presentation for the crowd level. Even with the one train operations the crews seemed slightly enthusiastic and happy with the environment and the extended season. The new Lumberjacks Wanted and the revamp of Ta Ra Ra were nice touches, again mostly featuring 6 or 7 singers/dancers of the Ringmaster troupe, and I will start a new thread to hopefully discuss the future shows and entertainment at the Park for next year and beyond. As I said before if they advertise the same weekends earlier in the season as BAFF weekends, possibly even calling the event Bring a Friend Free Fall Festival or BAFFFF, then they will see a big bump in attendance, and they could even advertise some Christmas and winter theming, because Holiday in the Park is extremely unlikely.

This is sort of related - Santa's Village in East Dundee is open weekends until 12/23! The park looks spectacular with all the lights on the rides on and all the other decorative lights lit up!

I don't know which rides are operating but would guess they'd do their best to get as many as possible up and running. I've got to head over there in near future to hit that new coaster (while it's still running LOL) and the drop tower.

I just went to Santa's Village this past weekend, and it really is a wonderful thing at night with all the lights. Super pretty. I highly recommend it.

Everything except the Drop Tower and the Fire Rescue thing were open when I went. They were trying to get the tower open, but couldn't due to the wind. The Fire Rescue thing is out for the rest of the season due to the water pipes.

Muck Finnesota wrote:Some pretty shitty luck for this year's extended season- 3 weeks of ass weather, and as soon as they're done for the year we get 50's and 60's. Next week looks great as well. Gurnee Mills is down the block, and with Black Friday, I bet they'd get their best crowds of the extended season this weekend. Hope they take it into account for next year.

It's tricky though. Sometimes November in Chicago is cold/rainy and sometimes it is warm and sunny....can't predict the first snowfall either...I'd love to have a holiday in the park but how do you run coasters in the snow?

That's a great photo. It was unfortunate the weather wasn't great this year, but I think it is a event they could have success with if the weather was nice like last weekend. November is a lot like April and May, you never know what type of weather you are going to get week to week. There have been many May's where it has rained and been cool every weekend too.